The USDA - Forest Service has a diverse organization
with Regional Offices located in all parts of the United States. Our activities
are primarily focused on the suppression of wildfires but also encompass
other realms of aviation. A large portion of our aviation activities are
handled by contractors, some on full service contracts and others on an
as-needed basis.

A high percentage of individual jobs include inspecting aircraft and
pilots for contract compliance as well as administrative duties for Regional
and National Programs. Our average pilot flies approximately 250 hours
per year, most of which is during the fire season of May through October.
Our personnel are also actively engaged in performing training for specific
aviation related courses within natural resource management, flight training
and administering check rides.

Hiring is done at the local level for each Regional Office. Advertising
of each job that may come open for application is normally through the
USAJOBS for that specific Region
and rarely advertised through publications such as magazines or Trade-a-Plane.
The easiest way to search for pilot positions is on OPM's USAJOBS, in
the series block enter 2181 or 2101. The 2101 series are generally management
positions, which may include some flight duties but are not line pilots.